Project Number: 6216-11210-006-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Sep 04, 2002
End Date: Sep 03, 2007

Objective:
Our objectives are to 1) evaluate and improve native and introduced warm-and cool-season forage species for use in complementary rangeland-forage production systems and/or reclamation of marginal croplands, and 2) describe and define the genetic mechanisms that affect the reproductive behavior of native warm- and cool-season forage species at the cellular and molecular levels.

Approach:
The overall approach is to identify germplasm with desirable traits, to expand the limits of germplasm variation by wide hybridization utilizing interspecific and intergeneric introgression and genetic manipulation, to evaluate and select superior genotypes, and then release superior germplasm and improved cultivars. A broad-base germplasm collection of eastern gamagrass is maintained at the Southern Plains Range Research Station at Woodward, OK. Facilities include a 35 x 40' breeding chamber, 5000 sq. feet of glass house space, a cytological-molecular laboratory equipped with light and fluorescent microscopes, karyotyping work station densitometer imaging system and RFLP, RAPD-PCR accessories, sterile laminar flow hood, four growth chambers, a -80 C freezer, and ample acreage for field trials and nurseries. This research will involve basic agronomic, physiology, genetics, cytogenetics and molecular biology studies.

Project Team

Springer, Timothy Goldman, Jason Gillen, Robert - Bob Sims, Phillip

Project Annual Reports

FY 2003